TLaurent 

Hi Friends!

I am building a mostly period correct Italian road bike: a late 80s or early 90s Pinarello Montello. The frame color from the factory was originally chromovelato Blue Record with decals but the previous owner repainted with a basic blue in all areas except the section between the seat stays where the rear brake is attached, so I have a reference for true color. I bought it unfinished and without any hardware, so it’s a ground up restoration. I have learned that Pinarello decals are known to break down easily so am thinking that some of the larger letters could be painted on the frame instead with the idea that it would be an improvement even though it was not done this way originally. What are your thoughts on painted letters instead of decals?

Thanks!

repechage

reference
Velocals
Cyclomondo

They are vinyl - there are options- possibly even they could cut a paint mask.
Keith Anderson used to get vinyl paint masks cut, the results were terrific.
He is out of the business.
A quality vector art file to cut the masks is the basis of success.

randyjawa 

Check out Cyclomondo, on Ebay, for decals. The product offered is great, very thin vinyl stickers that are reasonably easy to apply. Once applied, just shoot a few coats of clear top coat over them and, presto, Bob's your uncle. The decals on this frame set are true, water slide decals and fragile, to say the least. Just yesterday, I shot four coats of clear over the decals. Tomorrow, I will rub the paint out, hoping for a nice glossy finish...




Stencils were used on some bikes, such as my Legnano. Making a proper stencil, for the down tube art, is one of the things holding me back from painting my Legnano...

TLaurent 

Thx repechage ! randyjawa , I understand about holding back on repainting the Legnano. I like the look of your bike and if my Pinarello was decently original, I would leave it as-is. I will check out Cyclomondo. I ordered a decal set that I can either apply before the top coat or use some for the stencils.

P!N20

Has to be decals. Here's my '85 Montello with Cyclomondo decals:



Interested in your Montello. When you get to ten posts don't forget to Show us your Pinarello

Mad Honk 

Randy and all,
I use Greg's decals for most of my restorations. But please be careful about the type of clear coat used. A lacquer coat applied heavy for the first coat can cut into the vinyl and cause something that looks like a bleed of the underlying coat of paint into the decal set. I have found that for clear coat it takes about three very light passes of the clear coat so it can set before it does cause the bleed.
I got a set of SLX decals from overseas that washed off with a light coat of clear forcing me to look very carefully at the person selling the decals. Greg's work is pretty darned good and are exact replicas of the originals. Smiles, MH

obuckler

I would only recommend stenciling if that is a skill set you already have. I have an art background in all forms of traditional media so it worked out fine and a lot of fun also. You actually use a “frisket” material. It did take me two attempts to cut a good mask. The last photo is before a final gloss clear.

randyjawa 

I have given thought to using "fiisket" material also but don't know how to cut out a stencil and get the two colors (white and red) applied.

Would it be too much to ask for your help in showing me (us) how to make a stencil for my Legnano? I will do the work, once I figure out how to cut the stencil...

old_dreams

This guy used a signwriter with pretty terrific results on his Montello. May not be an option for you if you are going for a full respray.

Pinarello Montello : Aqua Blue Cromovelato - final on page 4 | Retrobike

rhm

If you're just doing plain white letters (which is probably what your Pinarello had, like the photo above) then I'd think a stencil is the way to go. Decals would probably be easier.

TLaurent 

P!N20 , thanks for the honest opinion. Yours is a great example. I am getting close to eligibility for posting pics.

obuckler

for two color you need two stencils and shoot one color at a time. Layer them (last top color over the first color). The problem is hand cutting the stencil. The letterforms need to be reasonably simple to cut it by hand. A sign maker could cut you a mask IF you can provide them a vector graphics file but my thoughts on that are if you go that far just do decals. Plus I no longer have access to computer drawing software.

I did create a bitmap image (in Powepoint) for the Lygie dwntube logo to lay under my frisket to hand cut over (with a sharp exacto knife both freehand on curves and with straight edge guides on the horizontals and verticals.

and a note on using the frisket: once you cut the negative image out of your mask, you need to put a whole new piece of frisket over the top—so that when you want to apply the mask to the frame and you peel off the bottom carrier material (usually a translucent waxy paper) to expose the adhesive under mask the whole thing will hold together. This new top piece is essentially a new carrier. And that new carrier may need to have its adhesive defeated just a bit so that when you pull it up it doesn’t also pull up your mask.

hope that made sense. If you look at my first photo it will show this. And if you look closely you will see small threads in my top carrier which is from me patting that adhesive against my clothes to reduce

or defeat its stickiness.

fliplap

I bet the way the decals and clear coat failed made that look so good. The lifted clear created a crisp line for the paint to flow against. Even and accurate slab serif lettering on a small, round surface is challenging.

TLaurent 

Can I just say WOW at the amazing responses and examples of dealing with the question of restoring a vintage bike frame to professional quality? Bike Forum is the internet at its finest. Grateful thanks to fliplap obuckler rhm old_dreams randyjawa Mad Honk old_dreams repechage , and of course P!N20 who never fails to offer sage advice. This is post #9 , so pics coming soon!